October 8, 2004

[Rev. Doc]

Comforting Others

"Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. no one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was."
Job 2:13

We wonder many times what we should say to comfort those around us who are hurting. We struggle for words and many times those that we do express are strained and come out meaningless. We walk away thinking it may have been better if we had said nothing at all. Sometimes, that may be true.

Once during Queen Victoria's reign, she heard that the wife of a common laborer had lost her baby. Having experienced deep sorrow herself, she felt moved to express her sympathy. So she called on the bereaved woman one day and spent some time with her. After she left, the neighbors asked what the queen had said. "Nothing," replied the grieving mother. "She simply put her hands on mine, and we silently wept together."

There are times that just our presence is the best comfort we can give.

Prayer: Ask God to help you to be an agent of comfort, and to be sensitive as to how to express it.

Honest listening is one of the best medicines we can offer the dying and the bereaved.
~Jean Cameron